POLICE were called to assist the fire service following a report of a chemical incident at Titan Industrial Estate, Thurrock, at just before 6am today. (Thursday July 11.)
The incident involved 66 tonnes of hydrochloric acid which had spilled from a collapsed container.
Hogg Lane was completely closed near the site and crews assisted on site staff wearing respirators and working to disperse the gas cloud.
Officers closed Hogg Lane and the surrounding footpaths for about two hours as a precaution.
There were no injuries to either staff or members of the public. It has now been deemed that there is no threat to the public and surrounding roads have been re-opened.
The incident has been referred to the relevant agencies to investigate.
Assistant Divisional Officer Tony Clark, incident commander, said: “The spillage occurred after a storage tank failed and collapsed. Most of the acid was contained in a bund and all of it was trapped in the site’s completely enclosed drainage system. they have their own treatment plant as part of the drainage system so none of the liquid chemical will enter the environment.
“When crews arrived a vapour cloud had already began to form. The site is in a quarry which helped to contain the cloud initially.
“On site crews used a water spray to initially contain the cloud then eventually to dilute and disperse it. The time of day and the direction of the wind means that the cloud did not pose a significant risk to anyone living nearby.”
What would have happened if the illegal lorry parking that used to be there was full of lorry drivers, and what would have happened on there other site in west Thurrock if that’s had been there with 300 lorry drivers living on the site Wake up Victoria Holloway